Outside Tibet's Temple, 1988
Sprinting through the snow, Joseph's footfalls crunch the fresh ice as he trails the prints leading away from the temple. Not too far along, he finds some debris and a small bloodtrail, but a sound in the distance distracts him.
"ORA!"
Okay, definitely Star Platinum. Good, he hasn't been Time Slipped.
Rushing up to the skirmish, he finds himself about fifteen feet behind Miller, who seems to be effortlessly dodging Jotaro's barrage of blows.
"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!" Star Platinum's fists streak as they cut through the air, seemingly hitting their targets with each thrust. But yet again, Joseph notes that Miller and his Stand to be blurred and smudged in space. Each punch is aimed at a vital spot but, just as it would connect, Miller seems to solidify a few inches away from the blow.
Is he stopping time and moving? You'd think he'd do that and just ice us…
After dodging a few more punches, Miller dips down a bit with his Stand close behind, and prepares to strike Jotaro with an uppercut with his non-broken arm. Jotaro prepares to step back, but Joseph snaps a bit quicker. With a crackle of Hamon, Joseph's Stand launches from his outstretched palm, the single purple vine whipping out toward Miller's shoulder. The moments seems to drag out and in the split seconds of his Stand reaching out, he notices that Miller's obvious dip into an uppercut had blurred once more. Now he couldn't tell if a hook was coming, or a straight, or even the original uppercut.
Wait a minute…
As if gripped by an elephant trunk, Miller's arm freezes in place as Joseph tightens his Stand's grip on the old man's shoulder. The blur fades on his arm, and Jotaro successfully dodges the uppercut, slicing the air in front of the teenager's trenchcoat.
"Wha-" Miller turns around to meet his attacker and his eyes snap open wide when he sees Joseph again. "-You! You have a Stand?"
"What, surprised? Didn't you think it was weird that I came back after your first attempt?" Joseph winks at Jotaro and points at his own wrist. "Now pay attention, Jotaro!" With that, he rushes straight at Miller, keeping his Stand pulled taut.
"I'll deal with you later, clown! Time Slip!" Miller's Stand whips around, and instead of aiming at the incoming Joseph, slams straight down with its beak arm straight into the purple vine restraining him.
It can just hit my Stand? If I had known that-
Once again, for the third time, Joseph finds himself enveloped in turquoise light, and swallowed back into the void.
I wouldn't showed him my hand like that! Damn senile, decrepit, useless…
Joseph patiently waits his time in the void, all the while cursing the old man.
Speedwagon Foundation Dig Site, 40 Days Remaining
Cocky bastard.
Jotaro jumps back a few feet after witnessing Joseph's Stand getting slammed by the Time Slip. Miller huffs a bit, then straightens up to look Jotaro in the eye.
"Now to get you out of my way!" He lunges straight at Jotaro, once again blurring with the space around him.
4…5…
With a burst of speed, Star Platinum cocks its fist back and fires away, but instead of a straight punch it slams his fist down like a hammer in the snow. Powder flies up like a cloud, and Jotaro's face crinkles a bit from the sudden spray of cold on his face.
"You think you can feint a hit like that? You inexperienced little-" Miller charges straight through the snow, still intent on gutting Jotaro with a thrust. Once he bursts through the snow, he finds that Jotaro is no longer where he stood. Instead, he finds the trenchcoated teenager about ten feet away, having apparently sprinted there in the cover of the snow.
"Realized you can't win, huh?"
"What're you after, you geezer?"
12…13…
"You wouldn't understand, I'm after true power!"
"Yare yare daze…" Jotaro grips the front brim of his hat, and lowers it down.
"You're no match, get back here!" Miller once again charges, but Jotaro doesn't budge. Star Platinum simply hovers behind him, patient. With a reckless bull rush, Miller's Stand thrusts in sync with a blow directly aimed at Jotaro's midsection. As the thrust draws closer, he begins to blur wildly, and the old man's eyes seem to grow wild in desperation.
He's losing steam. Seems like me and Joseph did a number on the old geezer. 25…26…
Still holding onto his hat, Jotaro stands defiant in the chilling mountain wind. In about half a second, he's either going to get gutted or Time Slipped. But before the thrust can land, Jotaro and Star Platinum both point at the approaching Stand user, two fingers outstretched-
"STAR FINGER!" Before Miller can touch him, Star Platinum's pointer and middle finger stretch out and impale themselves through the incoming Stand's upper arm and into the ground. The blur fades as the old man howls out in pain. Unable to withdraw his Stand, Miller desperately tries to grab at the new wound on the front of his upper arm, but the pain from trying to move his other, broken arm just has him writhing in place.
"You don't take well to surprises, do you?"
"You young, green bastard!"
"I'll ask again. What are you after?"
"Hah, like you'd understand." The old man smiles defiantly, blood staining his teeth.
"ORA!" Star Platinum launches a fist right at the man's midsection, but somehow Miller dodges. Even though he's pinned, it's as if he jerked his torso to the right just at the right time. Now, taking a good look at the old man with the impaled arm, Jotaro can plainly see him blurring everywhere but his impaled arm.
"You still can't hit me, Jotaro. Now that I've seen everything, it's useless to keep fighting."
"Tell me what you're after, or I'll snap this arm off." Jotaro starts to spread his pointer and middle finger, as does Star Platinum, causing the man to howl once more.
"Ha, immortality and a Stand. If I had that, I could eat you whole right now!" The man cackles out in pain.
"Immortality? You're already late to that."
"What?"
"I'm already on my way to kick a guy's ass who already achieved your dream."
"Wh-how?"
78…79…
"Give it up and send my dumbass grandfather home." Miller clenches his teeth, then loosens up as he bellows out a laugh.
"Hahahaha!"
"The pain drive you crazy?"
"No! That idiot, your grandfather! I wouldn't know how to send him back even if you tortured me to death! He shouldn't even exist right now!"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm done answering questions! You're out of surprises, Jotaro!" With a twist of his midsection, Miller limply flings both his broken arm and his Stand's arm towards Star Platinum's extended fingers.
"Tch!" Grinding his teeth a bit in surprise, Jotaro withdraws the Star Finger from Miller and steps back to avoid the blow.
Last thing I need is to let him get away. He has to know something. 110…111…
"How are you going to hit me with two messed up arms?" At that, Miller rips off a section of his cloak with his Stand, and deftly wraps the wound tight with the cloth.
"I just need one hit and I'm out of here." Jotaro skeptically glares at him, before snapping his attention to about fifteen feet behind Miller. A crunch of snow and a flash of light give it away.
120 exactly.
"Miss me, Miller?"
Outside Tibet's Temple, 1988
Now, hopefully he was paying attention. I don't need this bastard slipping away again.
Joseph rushes at Miller, and Jotaro follows suit to pincer him. Miller looks back and forth at them both, but he doesn't move. Joseph whips his Stand at the old man's feet, while Jotaro swings a wild hook at the shoulder. Amazingly, Miller does a short hop over the vine, twisting his way horizontal so the hook goes high above him in the process. Both hits whiff, but Miller lands on the ground with a loud crunch as he lands hard on his broken arm.
"Great dodge, Miller! Spectacular!" Joseph claps and cheers at the writhing old man. After a second or two, he looks up at Jotaro expectantly.
"Hmph." Jotaro shoves on hand in his pocket and throws the other up towards Joseph in a V.
Good job. Shorter than I thought. Now let's see if this bastard can send me home before he gets beat to a pulp.
Joseph pounds his fist into his palm, and steps menacingly towards the crumpled Miller. He takes in a deep breath and crackles Hamon through both hands.
"You've given me a lot of trouble, but now it's time to talk." He leans over at the waist directly above Miller's head, and starts to reach down to grab him by his gray hair. Just as he gets about halfway, Miller's eyes snap open and his Stand manifests in front of him.
"You fool! Time-" The enemy's Stand lunges his bird head arm right at Joseph's midsection, but before it can connect Joseph feels an entirely different, and entirely more painful, impact.
"ORA!" Star Platinum punches Joseph with enough force to knock him back, and has another arm cocked back to punch at Miller himself.
"Slip!" And yet it's not enough. The blow intended for Joseph hits Star Platinum's forearm, and in an instant both Jotaro and Star Platinum disappear in a turquoise light. Miller kicks his legs up into standing, and turns to face Joseph with an almost bloodcrazed look in his eyes.
So that's what it looks like. Lot less cool than I imagined. Now let's hope my grandson can count.
"Wow, you got beat up bad by a teenager."
"Shut up, you blathering idiot!"
"I'd rather keep this conversation going, actua-" Before he can finish, Miller does a headfirst charge again. Joseph handsprings backwards a few feet well before the blow gets anywhere close to him, causing Miller to stop in his tracks.
"Coward."
"Nah, I just figured out your tricks."
"Wh-"
"You're not actually dodging us." Joseph takes a few confident steps forward, and Miller once again runs at him. "You see…"
As the enemy draws closer, Joseph calmly sweeps his Stand at Miller's leg, and then yanks up right at the point where it would've been midway catching the man's leg. Sure enough, just as the vine would trip him, he jumps slightly. And right when it would've caught him mid-jump, he twists mid-air and loses his momentum, his body crashing back on the ground. Joseph chuckles a bit, Stand still extended out in the snow past the fallen old man.
"You're just picking from the best option. That freaky smudgy thing you're doing is just you picking from all the outcomes. Looks like you pick the one that either saves you from the immediate threat, or the one that lands the hit. Am I wrong?"
"Y-you…" The old man picks himself up into a kneel where he landed, teeth grinding in frustration. He falls back and drags himself backwards away from Joseph, who takes a few menacing steps forward.
"Oh, and the next thing you'll say is, 'Knowing won't save you, Jojo!'"
"Knowing won't save you, Jojo!" Without hesitation, Miller eyes glow with an inner fire as he stands up to lunge once more, arm blurring into an indiscernible attack. Joseph clicks his tongue, then flicks his arm upwards. Hamon surges through his arm and through his Stand, which pops up from the icy snow. While they had been talking, the Stand had curled itself around Miller in a wide circle, and as Joseph flicked his arm the Stand kicks of a ring of snow and ice around Miller's legs.
"Dodge this! Blizzard White Overdrive!" In an instant, the Hamon pulses through the Stand to the chunks of snow and ice. It freezes in small pillars and sticks together like supermagnets, pinning Miller's legs this way and that with almost one hundred small icy rods. He reaches down to pry and punch at them, but Joseph keeps a steady flow of Hamon through them, hardening them like steel.
"What? Didn't know about the whole rainbow of Hamon techniques?"
"You try to hit me from here, and I'll just Time Slip you again!" Miller tries to laugh, but it's blatantly clear he's running out of gas.
"How about this, tell me how to get home and I won't let you freeze to death out here." Miller calls his Stand's arm from within his own, and pounds the ice binding his legs. Even with the enhanced durability, the ice cracks a bit from the blow.
"You can't hold me here all day, Jojo." Joseph scratches his chin in response, as if thinking. The old man pounds away at the ice binding him, and after a few seconds he frees one leg. And yet, Joseph just continues to scratch his chin.
"Giving up already, Jojo?" Just as Miller readies a blow on the small ice rods holding his other leg, Joseph retracts his Stand and the Hamon with it, causing the ice to clatter together onto the snow. Joseph then takes up his signature fighting stance, causing Miller to backpedal two steps in preparation.
"There we go, perfect."
"What?"
"I didn't quite get the spot right, now we're golden!" Joseph breaks his stance and gives Miller a thumbs up, grinning madly.
"What are y-"
"ORA!" Just then the turquoise light flashes, and Star Platinum's fist plow directly into Miller's right calf.
Ooh, that had to hurt.
Miller's eyes seem to glaze in pain for a brief moment, but it's just long enough for Joseph to lunge and dip right in front of him, Hamon crackling in his hands.
"Sunlight Yellow Overdrive!"
A direct blow to the solar plexus, a sweeping kick to his left leg, a knee to the right pelvis, and a barrage of blows to the chest and face. Miller seems to hover in the air from the speed and power of the blows, and just as Joseph relents-
"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!" Star Platinum joins in and litters Miller's back with a seemingly unending series of punches and hooks, before ending with a massive haymaker to the shoulder which launches Miller all the way across the digsite. He ends up colliding with a large, what looks like eighty foot tall snowbank. A silhouette appears in the snow, as if he punched a hole all the way through it.
"Nice job, Jotaro. Two minutes exactly, who would've guessed."
"Let's go make sure he's still breathing…" Just as they start to walk over to the opposing snowbank, the ground beneath them rumbles a bit.
"Jotaro." Joseph's voice is coated in blame, but before he can turn to face him Jotaro barks out-
"Hey, get in the temple!" The supposed snowbank starts to shift and fall in on itself, exposing some layers of toppling ice and rock.
"Did you hit him so hard you caused an avalanche? How strong are you?"
"Oi, jiji! Nigurundayo!" And with that, Jotaro whips around and sprints towards the temple entrance.
"What the hell does that mean, I don't speak Japanese!" Nevertheless, Joseph follows and quickly outpaces Jotaro with his Hamon sprinting. They both end up ducking into the temple corridor down the temporary steps, the snow and rocks rushing in behind them to plug up the entrance.
"Damn, Jotaro! You probably killed the man." The two walk further in and through the stone double door, keeping their footing despite the intense rumbling around them.
"I doubt that. Something about him screams pain in the ass."
"Well if you didn't, the avalanche did."
"Hm." Jotaro in the main chamber of the temple and observes the lines of the newly arrived elevator platform. "If we can't find him, there's a camera up there in the tents. We can use your spirit photography to find him."
"One, the tents are probably demolished. Two, how the hell do I use a normal camera with that? I get the movie thing but what's a picture going to tell me?" Jotaro pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs heavily.
"…Do you not know how to you use your own Stand?"
"What, is there a guidebook or something?"
"Do you even know the damn thing's name?"
"…They're supposed to have names?"
END of CHAPTER 14